This week. Welcome to TDT4175 Information Systems. Course introduction. Types of information systems (today and tomorrow)

Transcription

1 This week Course introduction Welcome to TDT4175 Information Systems Types of information systems (today and tomorrow) Slides are in English, kommer til å forelese på norsk John Krogstie, IDI IntroE.ppt

2 Short background on me Learning goals Siv.ing (Master) and PhD IDI (1991, 1995) Employed 9 years in Andersen Consulting (Accenture) Last 5 years in SINTEF ICT (Oslo) Started as Professor at IDI 1.August 2005 (earlier part-time position for 7.5 years) This course is normally held by Guttorm Sindre, this year on sabbatical The course is to a large extent equal to how it was lectured last year Be able to develop good IS solutions for organizations Analyse the current situation, understand problems in the IS (automated and/or manual) Suggest improved future situation High level strategic considerations IS requirements specification Build or buy? Knowledge about typical IS-solutions available in the marketplace Modelling: knowledge of typical techniques, practical skills in modelling and quality assurance of models Basis for future learning!

3 Course contents Relevant work roles Readings covering Analyzing Organisational Need More details on the web: Technological Opportunity Consultant (internal / external) Analyze current situation Improve business processes Determine automation boundary Evaluate or develop software products IT manager Analyst / requirements engineer Other participant in large IS projects Employee, domain expert, designer, tester,

4 Relationship to last year s courses Different phase focus Software Engineering and Databases also have Development / problem solving Project management / life-cycles Modelling (UML, ER) Differences: The IS course has a different phase focus The IS course has a wider scope Other modelling languages Process modelling (data flow diagrams, activity diagrams) Some supplementary material about known techniques Drop chapters on project mgmnt and life-cycles (known) Sw.eng. and DB Primarly about design and later phases A little bit about requirements in Sw.eng. But Fellesprosjektet starts with given requirements InfoSys Requirements specification (adding to Sw.eng. course) Work before the requirements phase: strategic considerations, problem analysis Customer-Driven Project (4th year) has a real customer Much focus on problem analysis and requirements

5 Different scope Readings Sw.eng. IS Methodology for developing software I.e., assuming that the development of new software is the main part of the solution The system to be developed is only partially new software, can also be: Acquiring and adapting package solutions Integrating the customer s legacy systems Changing business processes I.e., the IS consists of organization (humans) + processes + ICT The following sources Hawryskiewycz: Introduction to Systems Analysis & Design, Prentice-Hall Pearlson & Saunders: Managing and Using Information Systems: A Strategic Approach, Wiley, 2. edition Fowler: UML Distilled, ch 11 (Activity Diagrams) which was not included in the sw.eng.course Material on the web (made available during the course), lecture notes and exercises A preliminary reading list is available on the web

6 Exercises and exam Exercises, cont. Exercises: To be done in teams Counting for the grade (40%) Grading by portfolio assessment, i.e. Team exercises give max 40 points Exam max 60 points Sum gives grade You form your own teams Advantage to agree on ambition level! Maybe write a team contract Exam 2. June, written 4h (individual) Includes several oral activities / role-play Interviews Requirements workshops Document review Oral performance not graded as such, but must be done to get the related points Losing points for oral activities only by no-show or very unserious performance Much of the oral activities will take place in tiltaksuker Do not order charter tours!

7 Overall schedule Week 1-2: different types of IS / available technology Relevant readings: Hawryskiewycz ch 1-3 Week 3-6: modelling, reviews Relevant readings: Hawryskiewycz ch 7, 8, 10, 13, 16, 20 + UML Distilled (chapter 11) Week 7-11: requirements elicitation & specification Relevant readings: Hawryskiewycz ch 4, 13, 19 + web Week 12-13: available technology: ERP Relevant readings: web Week 14-16: IS strategy Relevant readings: Pearlson & Saunders Different Types of Information Systems John Krogstie, IDI 13 IntroE.ppt

8 Learning goals this and next) lesson What is an Information System? What is an information system? Overview of traditional types of information systems Why is this useful to you as a student? Easier to learn about new systems if you know the context they emerged from Why is this useful to you as a practitioner? Many companies still use old legacy systems from the 90 s, 80 s, Knowing where package solutions are likely to be available i.e., possible to buy rather than build Information = data + metadata, i.e. data has been processed so as to be meaningful to the recipient An information system (IS) is an arrangement of people, data, processes, communications, and information technology that interact to support and improve the day-today operations in a business, as well as support the problem-solving and decision-making needs of managers and users A computerized information system (CIS) is the part of of an IS automated by the use of ICT An application Is an end-user program system being part of a CIS An application package Is application availble to buy (COTS) Often, information system is seen as different from Embedded system Command & control system

9 Organizational uses of information Example: Electricity network company Planning Recording Controlling Real-time op. of the network SCADA CuIS Subscriptions, Meter readings Invoicing Measuring Decision-making Strategic Tactical Maps, overview maintenance of the network NIS ERP Personnel, salaries, economy, accounting, purchasing, Operational Can you give me some examples of (types of) information systems?

10 Further challenges: mergers Types of information systems (1) SCADA CuIS Mother company Covered by the Hawryszkiewycz book, ch. 1-3 What are the kinds of systems? (pp 7-13) NIS ERP Corporate Computer Systems (pp 14-17) Networking (pp 17-24) Ch2: Workgroup systems Ch3: Evolving business systems SCADA A CuIS A SCADA B CuIS B Somewhat unsystematic? E.g., architectural aspects mingled with function / organizational need NIS A ERP A Daughter comp. A NIS B ERP B Daughter comp. B This lecture (+ tomorrow and next week) Covers the same types of systems Loosely based on the Hawryskiewycz book

11 Traditional types of computerized IS Transaction processing systems (TPS) Transaction processing systems (TPS) Daily routine transactions Knowledge work systems (KWS) Highly skilled creation and synthesis of knowledge Office automation systems (OAS) Incl. Office tools, , conferencing etc. Management information systems (MIS) Summary reports from TPS, for middle-level managers Decision-support systems (DSS) Making decisions from unstructured info Executive support systems (ESS, or EIS) Reports from TPS and external sources, for top-level managers Examples: flight reservation, bank accounts, stock control Automate the handling of information about business activities, often seen as discrete events Used at the operational level for the hour-to-hour running of the business Traditionally, an organization would have many TPS s, e.g. one for each department Typical architectures: Centralized Distributed Two-tier vs. three-tier Homogeneous vs. heterogeneous

12 Centralized TPS (example: Postbanken kundesystem) Two-tiered distributed TPS Terminals Presentation services Application services User modules Presentation services Application services Presentation services Application services Client machines Presentation services Application services Transaction services Data access Database server Transaction services Data access Centralized system DB server machine

13 Three-tiered distributed TPS Often the reality gets more complex Client machines Windows 3.1/ 4.x FCP 2.4 Filserver/DBserver NTAS FCP V2.4 Local office Presentation services Presentation services NTAS/LM TCP/IP Oracle Application server machine Transaction support Data access DB server machine Oracle AIX FCP 2.4 IP WAN NTAS/LM TCP/IP Foundation BULL Gateway AIX Customer system BULL DPS 9000 FCP V

14 OAS and KWS Management Information Systems (MIS) Office Automation Systems Improving the productivity of employees who need to process data and information Supporting typical office work, e.g. letter writing, messages, workflows for administrative routines Knowledge Work Systems Supporting work which in itself creates and synthesizes information Used by highly skilled personnel Example: Systemer for arkitekter, designer, CAD/CAM, CASE,.. Summarise data from TPS into reports Mostly for middle-level managers Organization-internal data Types of reports Summary Scheduled Exception On demand Ad hoc

15 MIS architecture User (manager) Decision-support systems (DSS) Capturing and validating data Support for making decisions (unstructured and semi-structured) TPS es MIS Application Presentation / reporting Aggregation and analysis of data Project future states of the world based on past data (from databases of TPS and MIS) Using a model base to provide this analytical capability Databases NB: Decision-support system is not synonymous with Expert system

16 DSS architecture Executive Support Systems (ESS) User Dialog management Data management Dialog management Also called Executive Information Systems (EIS) Like MIS: aggregating lower level data from DB s into summaries / reports Difference from MIS: Higher level of abstraction Higher tendency to combine internal and external data Better UI, more focus on graphics Databases (org. internal and external)

17 Ways to classify computerized IS Classification by org. level A CIS can be classified along several dimensions: Organizational level of use Function (what does it do for the users?) System scope (personal, group, department, organization, inter-organizational, global) Architecture (e.g.,centralized vs. distributed) Other user characteristics Implementation approach (e.g., custom-built program vs. package solution)? Strategic level Management level Knowledge level Operational level Top managers Middle managers Knowledge workers Operators How do the mentioned types of systems fit in here??

18 Classification by function (1) Classification by function (2) Separating between two major categories of IS: Operational IS: help the day-to-day operation of the organization Informational IS: Analyzing data, making decisions Continuum rather than binary distinction? Mentzas (1994), a 3D framework Collaboration process support Decision process support operational Where do the mentioned system types fit in here?? informational Information process support How do the mentioned types of systems fit in here?? And any other systems to complete the picture??

19 Modern trends: Next week More integration: Trad. TPS es: one for each functional department Now: one system covering all, e.g., ERP, corporate portals More collaboration support: Trad. systems: shared DBs or documents Now: more sophisticated support: groupware. More dynamic analysis of data Trad. MIS & ESS: rather static, two-dimensional reports Now: more flexible data analysis, e.g., data warehouses, data mining Extending the automation boundary Trad systems: within the organization Now: internet, e-commerce, integration with customers (B2C) and partners (B2B) Multiple different channels for accessing the system (simultaneously) PC Internet PDA Mobile phone Lectures Thursday G1 and Friday R5: Will look more closely at these more modern types of systems: Workgroup systems, Hawr chap. 2 Evolving business systems, Hawr ch. 3 for which there are usually available package solutions in the market